In her new book set to be released later this month, former Vice President Kamala Harris described letting former President Joe Biden run for second term at age 81 as “recklessness.” This revelation comes as rumors swirl about who might be the next Democratic candidate.
Biden was already the oldest president elected in history when he took office in 2021 (a record broken by President Donald Trump this year). While on the campaign trail in 2020, he indicated that he would be a “transition” president or a “bridge” president, as reported by The Hill. However, once it came time for 2024 election campaigning, he announced he would run again, despite growing concerns throughout his term about his age.
“‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized,” Harris wrote in 107 Days, per an excerpt published Wednesday morning by The Atlantic. “The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”
Then came a fateful debate last summer between Biden and Trump.
Biden’s performance was widely criticized and he eventually pulled out of the race as his polling continued to slip. Harris was selected to replace Biden during the Democratic National Convention, but then had to run one of the shortest campaigns in modern history – as referenced in the title of her book.
Notably, 107 Days isn’t the first book to highlight the issues with Biden’s decision to run in 2024. Earlier this year, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson released Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. According to that book, Biden’s advisors privately discussed the possibility of having Biden use a wheelchair due to the former president’s declining health in 2023 and 2024. It also revealed that Biden’s physician encouraged him to get more rest and alleged that Biden and his team “lied” about the former president’s condition to themselves and the public.
However, Harris “disputes there was any serious problem” in her book, according to CNN.
“On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best. But at 81, Joe got tired,” Harris wrote in the book. “That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles. I don’t think it’s any surprise that the debate debacle happened right after two back-to-back trips to Europe and a flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser. I don’t believe it was incapacity. If I believed that, I would have said so. As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country.”
Both Biden and his son Hunter – who the former president pardoned after saying that he wouldn’t – have weighed in on the 2024 election. Hunter Biden blamed “disloyalty” in the Democratic party, while Biden pointed to sexism and racism. As vice president, Harris has held the highest office in the nation that a woman and a person of South Asian descent has held. She also held the second highest office that a Black person has held.
Regarding loyalty, even CNN said: “loyalty to the point of timidity about taking on Biden and his record became an anchor to [Harris’] presidential campaign,” citing an interview with “The View” last October when she said she wouldn’t have done anything differently from Biden over the course of his term.
According to Harris, another problem was the Biden team’s unwillingness to help her.
“When polls indicated that I was getting more popular, the people around him didn’t like the contrast that was emerging,” Harris said. “None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well. That given the concerns about his age, my visible success as his vice president was vital. It would serve as a testament to his judgment in choosing me and reassurance that if something happened, the country was in good hands. My success was important for him.”
Even so, Harris said Biden’s team “didn’t get it.”
When all was said and done, Harris managed to pull one of the highest popular vote counts of all time. Trump’s was higher, though, and he won the Electoral College.
This year, Harris surprised some when she passed on running for governor in her home state of California. That leaves the possibility of her running again in 2028 open.
Polling results compiled by Race to the White House showed Harris in the lead of the potential 2028 Democratic candidate pack as of Thursday with 21.1%. California Gov. Gavin Newsom was close behind at 20.2%. Other candidates included (in order of polling popularity): former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
Newsom pulled ahead of Harris in Emerson College poll results released last month, making headlines. Poll results released Sept. 5 by Saint Anselm College also found Newsom in the lead along with Buttigieg at 23% and Harris at just 9%. Polymarket betting data showed Newsom in the lead as well as of Thursday, at 36% to Harris’ 5%. That betting site showed GOP frontrunner Vice President JD Vance in the lead of a hypothetical 2028 race, with Newsom gaining on him with 22%.
There’s still quite some time before the next presidential elections, and midterm elections come first. According to CNN, “multiple people close to her have told CNN they expect her time running for office may be done,” regarding Harris. The outlet also said a spokesperson for Biden did not have an immediate comment and several longtime aides did not respond to its requests for comment.